Drunk Bus Driver Cannot Be Fired
Returning to work from the Semana Santa holidays for about 50 people yesterday morning was a hard awakening for what the Policía de Tránsito have been campaigning against, drunk drivers.

This time, the drunk driver was none other than "their" bus driver, a driver who drove his bus from Zapote (east side of San José) all the way to downtown, who after being stopped by Tránsito officials, registered  2.69 on the blood alcohol test.

Worse yet is that bus company, Autotransportes Zapote, cannot fire the man even after the man was detaine kicking and screaming at Tránsito officials and getting into a row with news reporters where he tried to attack several television news cameramen, could only be given a ¢26.000 colones (us$50.) fine and suspend his drivers license for six months.

The company says that they will suspend the driver for indefinite period of time, but cannot fire him for his behaviour and drunk driving, because under the labour code the man does not have a history of alcoholism and thus no basis for grounds of immediate dismissal.

The driver, identified as Carlos Cubero, has worked for Autotransportes Zapote for only eight months.

Drunk drivers have left many families with the pain of grieving a loved one and still no lesson is being learned, especially by drivers of heavy vehicles like buses and tractor trailers, which are involved in many fatal traffic accidents.

Just last week, the Policía de Tránsito detained another drunk driver, identified as Octavio Porras, with 3.17 alcohol content in his blood. Many more have been detained, though with such a high blood alcohol content, and all that the Policía de Tránsito can do is issue a fine and issue a license suspension.

The fine is paid and that ends that until the next time.

The fine and the license suspension is no deterrent for those who insist on drinking and driving. The proposed changes to the Ley de Tránsito, that would increase the fines more than 10 times, giving Tránsito officials the power to permanently suspend a license on re-occurrences and even jail, has yet to approved by the country's legislators, some who argue that the punishment is too severe.

In the meantime, drunk drivers continue to threaten the lives of many and with no end is sigh.

Fortunately, in yesterday's incident the driver was detained before causing any injury.